In the News

5/30/2008

"With the California Supreme Court's recent decision overturning the state's ban on same-sex nuptuals, Lambda Legal's Jon Davidson and the Alliance Defense Fund's Glen Lavy debate the future of gay marriage in California and the country."

Read more on latimes.com

5/30/2008

"Legal challenges to Gov. David A. Paterson's plan to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions are likely to come thick and fast. But they face an uphill fight, legal experts said on Thursday, given New York's unusual legal terrain.

"The plan, issued by the governor's office in a memorandum on May 14, was, for starters, in one sense, unremarkable.

5/29/2008

"Two weeks after deciding same-sex couples are entitled to marry, the California Supreme Court appeared ready Wednesday to rule that physicians have no constitutional right to refuse medical treatment to gays on grounds it would violate their religious beliefs.

"The justices' inclination emerged as the state high court heard arguments in a case that pits the religious freedom of physicians against the right of gays to be free from discrimination.

5/29/2008

"David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada.

"In a directive issued on May 14, the governor's legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere 'should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.'

5/18/2008

"As soon as the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that gay men and lesbians had a constitutional right to marry, my partner and I started getting the calls: When would we head West to get hitched?

"In the euphoric wake of the decision, it sure seemed like a great idea. Unlike Massachusetts, where a couple has to declare an intention to live in the state, California has no residency requirement. Plus, we have a lot of family there.

"But do we really need to go to California?

5/16/2008

"California's Supreme Court declared that gay couples in the nation's biggest state can marry ? a monumental but perhaps short-lived victory for the gay rights movement Thursday that was greeted with tears, hugs, kisses and at least one instant proposal of matrimony.

5/16/2008

"A homeless man who spit in the mouth and eye of a police officer and then taunted him, saying he was H.I.V. positive, was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday for harassing a public servant with a deadly weapon: his saliva.

"Because of the deadly weapon finding, the man, Willie Campbell, 42, of Dallas, will not be eligible for parole until he has served half his sentence.

5/16/2008

"Even as same-sex couples across California begin making plans to tie the knot, opponents are redoubling their efforts.

"A conservative group said it would ask California's Supreme Court to postpone putting its decision legalizing gay marriage into effect until after the fall election.

"...The 4-3 opinion written by Chief Justice Ronald George said domestic partnerships that provide many of the rights and benefits of matrimony are not enough.

5/12/2008

"When Michigan voters headed to the polls in 2004 to decide the fate of a proposed amendment to the state constitution, they'd been told the following by its lead proponent:

"'(This) has nothing to do with taking benefits away. This is about marriage between a man and a woman,' said Marlene Elwell, campaign director of Citizens for the Protection of Marriage.

"CPM's Web site declared the group's purpose was 'for defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Period.'

4/16/2008

"A coalition of advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights is calling for Ventura County prosecutors to try 14-year-old Brandon McInerney in juvenile court, not as an adult.

"McInerney has been charged as an adult in connection with the Feb. 12 fatal shooting of a classmate, Larry King, at E.O. Green School in Oxnard.

"According to students, King, 15, might have been targeted because he was openly gay.